1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to targeted advertising techniques, and more particularly to generating revenue through the delivery of hyper-relevant advertising to consumers having confirmed, verifiable interests in specific types of content, products or services.
2. Description of Related Art
The world of advertising has traditionally involved a process in which advertisers place the things they are trying to sell in the paths of consumers as they visit, gather, or pause out of need or desire; e.g., on passing roadside billboards, on free or paid television (referred to as first screens), on commercial radio, in restrooms, aboard public transportation, or on computer screens (called second screens) and now even on cell phone and PDA displays (termed by advertisers third screens). In most cases, this placement of content represents a relatively general or non-targeted presentation of merchandise or opportunities. As technology progresses however, we find we are able to deliver content to consumers more selectively since the technology they receive it on has increasingly greater abilities to tell us who is receiving and using it as well as where and when they are using it, along with feedback about their buying habits based on past performance. But never before have consumers had the ability to tell us precisely—either directly or indirectly—about the things they sincerely want, need or desire.
Modern society is comprised of numerous technologies which enable wireless mobile communications between friends, associates and others with whom it is necessary to exchange information. Most such technologies involve the use of specific telephone numbers, email addresses, computer codes, radio frequencies or similar means to enable links to specific people or groups of people for specific purposes.
The Internet is an example of a modern technology that demonstrates an exceptional ability to connect users who share common interests and objectives. Using a computer, a modem and appropriate software, Internet users can communicate with others who share mutual experiences, interests or objectives and often a desire to communicate more directly for a common purpose. Once such Internet users exchange adequate information, they may offer the other party or parties their phone numbers, email addresses, or other kinds of information that will ultimately lead to a mutually desired physical encounter or some similar transaction in the real world.
Each month in the real world, however, we may pass within close physical proximity of hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of individuals who share, to varying degrees, our precise and identical or similar most intimate, interests, experiences or objectives. However, we are never aware of these close encounters and are thus unable to take advantage of them as personal contacts or life enhancing opportunities.
Limited “systems” exist to permit spontaneous real world encounters. Typically, these systems use established networks and complex mobile devices in order to function, for example, cellular telephones and the cellular telephone system. Toothing, Serendipity, BEDD and Dodgeball.com are varied examples of such systems.
Toothing, also called “bluejacking”, first emerged in the United Kingdom as a method of obtaining anonymous sex with strangers. Both terms derive from the word Bluetooth, the formal name given to a wireless radio technology standard designed to communicate over short distances (approximately 10 meters or yards) with cell phones, PDA's and similar Bluetooth equipped devices. Toothing usually begins when one party broadcasts a general wireless message requesting an encounter, hoping the message is received by another Bluetooth user, if there are any within range. If such a message is received and the other party is interested, information is exchanged until a suitable location for an encounter is agreed upon. Toothing involves no sophistication in locating or assessing potential users, other than human judgment on the part of each user, and an expensive cellular device which is Bluetooth capable. Such chance encounters are emotional, potentially risky, and are based on protocols that are created very much “in the moment.”
BEDD is a Singapore based software and service company that allows its subscribers to send and receive information directly between their mobile phones. As with Toothing, BEDD software relies on Bluetooth equipped cellular telephones that permit the transmission of voice and data via short range radio. To use BEDD, a user must manually input all of his pertinent profile data (age, gender, special hobbies or interests) into his cellular phone. When BEDD phones are on, they automatically search for other BEDD-enabled phones within range (typically a 30 foot radius) and once radio contact is made, they exchange profiles and contact information. The BEDD service can accommodate most cell providers but it does not use online servers, system managers or databases. BEDD, therefore, has limited capacity and is unable to deliver extensive data or transmit photos.
Serendipity is a more exacting mobile application for proximity encounters. Developed by MIT's Media Lab., Serendipity also uses Bluetooth technology and the cellular system to communicate with a remote computer, but then adds a central server, a system manager and a database. In the field, Serendipity creates a 16 foot transmission “bubble” around each Serendipity user that broadcasts a unique ID. When two or more individuals using Serendipity enter the bubble, their ID's are sent via the cellular network to Serendipity's central server, which looks at the personality profiles stored for each member user. If the Serendipity computer determines a compatible match exists within its stored profiles, each user then gets the other's name, a thumbnail photo and a list of common interests transmitted through his or her cell phone. The server scans for IDs every 60 seconds and the entire sequence takes about a minute, assuming the cellular system is working.
In the United States, Dodgeball.com, a free system which does not use Bluetooth, lets its subscribers find friends within a 10-block area by sending a text message with his or her location to Dodgeball. The Dodgeball server then relays the message to the user's selected list of friends. Dodgeball will also notify a user of any friends, or friends-of-friends, who are within the 10-block range. It is quite nonspecific.
Today there are countless independent Internet services comprised of public, proprietary, and personal data, which is contributed or managed by individuals, members or the public at large. On some sites members pay a monthly fee for the right to post data, which can then be accessed or shared by other paying members. Online Personals and Dating, for example, led the Internet paid database category in the U.S. for 2003, accounting for 28.8% of all paid content, or roughly $450 million in consumer spending. In 2004, this number increased to $475 million. Growth over the next five years, however, has been projected to slow (rising only 32% to $623 million) due to the increasing numbers of competing Online/Personal services. Market saturation in such databases suggests that a novel system which would enable customers to access considerably larger or multiple databases simultaneously could produce more exacting match-ups over less time, thereby significantly increasing customer satisfaction at a much lower cost.
Another popular use of the Internet involves the downloading of music and similar forms of digital entertainment and information. One such early enterprise, Napster, allowed members to download music without charge, as long as users contributed music to the Napster database. Such sites and uses were ultimately deemed illegal because they did not provide for the payment of royalties to the original content creators as is done with traditional forms of Intellectual Property distribution. If such systems are to succeed, fair and proper compensation must be made to those creating Intellectual Property and to those who own, operate, and maintain sites which distribute it.
More recently, Apple Computer negotiated with various major music labels and successfully licensed hundreds of thousands of songs for its itunes Music Store online database. This music is downloaded legally by consumers for a fee. Purchased itunes music can then be transferred from a user's computer to itunes-compatible devices. An iPod is an example of a portable MPEG audio device that is itunes-compatible. The iPod allows users to play their purchased content (e.g., music or video) as many times as they wish on their iPods, however software access keys prevent the transfer of purchased music to other iPods in order to assure the compensation of Intellectual Property rights. iTunes then pays the owners of these properties a royalty based on its distribution and sales. Apple permits users to select from a menu of commercial entertainment which is traditionally available through other suppliers and through alternate distribution methods. The data is public in nature, as opposed to private or confidential. It is data that is previously known to and recognized by Apple's music (or video) customers. iTunes further permits its customers to sample the data before they buy and download it. Once downloaded, the customer has unlimited use of the data he has purchased, except he cannot duplicate purchased video onto DVDs. Throughout, the process of sampling, selection, purchase, and use is entirely controlled by the consumer. In other words, Apple delivers a specifically ordered product whose content is known to the user/subscriber in a single traditional buyer/seller direct transaction. iPods do not, however, enable wireless communications.
By the end of 2008, Bluetooth-equipped mobile phones are expected to have penetrated 60% of the mobile phone market. This is leading to an ever increasing need to wirelessly distribute overwhelming amounts of data between mobile devices in the field. This process can consume tremendous amounts of transmission bandwidth and can increase the risk of inadvertent or deliberate pirating of data through wireless intervention.
Of practical importance, when such communications are intended to produce physical encounters in the field, they can also result in significant interruptions or distractions to thousands of users throughout the day. It is therefore incumbent upon database owners and operators—and critical to the users and subscribers of proximity encounter systems or devices—that they optimize the quality, rather than the quantity of their encounters so that these become useful and rewarding experiences, rather than draining on a user's valuable time.